1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of designing and manufacturing of packaging bags such as woven or mesh bags for containing onions, potatoes, citrus, nuts, fruits, or other produce. More particularly, the invention is related to a tube mesh bag coupled with pre-printed labels and the apparatus and method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mesh bags have been widely used in commercial packaging and storing, laundry, as well as sports. More particularly, light weight and heavy duty mesh bags are widely used for packaging and storing fruits, nuts, onions, garlic, and etc. As with other containers of consumer products, labeling is needed to give notice of the brand of the product as well as to convey relevant information. The prior art's solutions for labeling are inferior to the present invention because they are lacking either in visibility, cost effectiveness, or aesthetics.
Prior art labeling methods on tube mesh included stitching the preprinted label on or tying it on. These methods are aesthetically lacking and/or are easily torn off or damaged in transport since they are only attached at one or two edges of the label.
Adhesive pre-printed labels are an aesthetic improvement since the label is entirely bonded to the mesh bag and does not have portions of the label hanging off the bag or unbounded edges such as the stitched or tied prior art labels. Thus, this type of label is superior to the prior art methods of labeling tube mesh bags.
Traditionally these adhesive pre-printed labels were used only on bags made from sheets of mesh. The sheet of mesh would then need to be sealed on two sides to create an open bag and three sides to form a closed bag. On the other hand, mesh tube could be sealed on one side to form an open bag and 2 sides to be sealed for a closed bag resulting in lower production costs. If the self adhesive heat activated preprinted labels could be used with tube mesh, then a mesh bag can be made with all the advantages of using adhesive labels, along with the lower costs of using tube mesh.
But, the machines which applied these labels must be used on sheets of mesh. Tube mesh could not be used with these machines because when they press the label onto the tube mesh, the other side of the tube mesh would also stick to the adhesive label, rendering the mesh unusable as a bag. Thus, a machine which can efficiently place these adhesive labels on tube mesh is desired.
The prior art in FIG. 1 shows a tube mesh bag 10 with a label 14 attached to a twist tie instead of on the bag itself. The label attached is small and thus is not very visible. Though the produce 11 inside the bag can be seen, the brand of the product would not be recognizable from a distance. Further the tag is attached to the bag by a twist tie 13 and could be easily torn off. Though this method may be cost effective, it is lacking in visibility and aesthetics.
The prior art in FIG. 2 shows a tube mesh bag with a label 221 222 tied to the bag at both ends using twist ties 23 24. This method allows the use of a larger label since it is held on at both sides. It is cost effective since the label is just tied on at the same time as the twist ties are secured. But the label is aesthetically lacking.
The prior art in FIG. 3 shows a tube mesh bag 30 which is stitched together at the bottom 34 and has a label 32 stitched at the top 31. This method is improved from the previously shown prior art in aesthetics and visibility, but it makes the package larger than necessary and can get wrinkled or bent easily during transport of the product.
The prior art in FIG. 4 shows a mesh bag which was made from a sheet of mesh 50 using adhesive labels 51. The adhesive labels are aesthetically superior to the other prior art labels and their size allows them to be easily read. They also do not increase the size of the package nor get damaged easily during transport the way the prior art shown in FIG. 3 does. These labels are primarily used on bags made from sheets of mesh rather than tube mesh since directly pressing the label onto a section of tube mesh would cause the other side of the tube stick to the label as well. But since sheets of mesh were used with this type of label, two sides of the mesh must be sealed 52 53 to form an open bag 54. A closed bag would require 3 sides to be sealed. Each set of seals results in added cost to the production of the bag.
What is desired is a tube mesh bag to which a pre-printed label is coupled using a dynamic guiding system to prevent the adhesive materials from being attached to the other side of the mesh tube.